The Military Commissions Act of 2006
was passed by the Senate over two weeks ago yet, as Keith Olbermann
pointed out in his excellent MSNBC commentary last week, Bush has not
yet actually signed HR 6166 and it doesn't become law until his signature
is on it. Whatever the reason for the delay, this represents an opportunity
to get the story about how America died on the evening of Thursday September
28th back on top of the headlines.

Will Bush choose to ignore legislation
passed by Congress and the Senate as he has done in the past with other
bills and essentially veto the act? There's probably more chance of
Mark Foley getting re-elected but this momentary pauses at least gives
us the opportunity to keep the legislation in the media spotlight and
rally for a repeal.

Olbermann outlined the fact that the
act expeditiously nullifies nine of the first ten freedoms clarified
in the bill of rights. It seems the McCain "compromise" at
least left us with one remaining "bill of right." Many of
the members of Congress who voted in favor of the bill to officially
end America didn't even read it.

The big question at the moment is
why Bush has delayed signing the legislation even in the midst of fast-tracking
other bills of little significance?

It was reported by the Washington
Post over the weekend that Bush and Karl Rove are "inexplicably
upbeat" about the upcoming midterm elections and expected the Democrats
to easily fall short of the 15-seat threshold that would see them recapture
the House.

In the face of scandals piled atop
scandals and the universal unpopularity of the ongoing quagmire in Iraq,
how on earth can Bush and Rove expect to employ successful damage limitation,
absent some intervening event or the "October
surprise" that Rove himself promised.

The arrogance of the Neo-Cons has
led many to fear that HR 6166 is being maintained in a holding position
in anticipation of a major event that will give the Bush administration
carte blanche to expand its provisions and sharpen its focus to further
target American citizens.

WHAT THE MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT
OF 2006 "LEGISLATES"

- Doesn't suspend, as is accommodated
for in the Constitution, but completely abolishes Habeas Corpus permanently
- the right of the detainee to see the evidence against him and not
be locked up for eternity based on the arbitrary will of the state.

- Contains a definition of "wrongfully
aiding the enemy" which labels all American citizens who breach
their "allegiance" to President Bush and the actions of his
government as terrorists subject to possible arrest, torture and conviction
in front of a military tribunal.

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- The definition of torture that the
legislation cites is US
code title 18 section 2340. This is a broad definition
of torture and completely lacks the specific clarity of the Geneva Conventions.
This definition allows the use of torture that is, "incidental
to lawful sanctions." In alliance with the bill's blanket authority
for President Bush to define the Geneva Conventions as he sees fit,
this legislates the use of torture.

- Destruction of any property is defined
as terrorism, which is deemed punishable by any means of the military
tribunal's choosing.

- Any violent activity whatsoever
is defined as terrorism if it takes place near a designated protected
building, such as a charity building.

- A change of the definition of "pillaging"
turns all illegal occupation of property and all theft into terrorism.
This makes squatters and petty thieves enemy combatants.

- In light of Greg
Palast's recent hounding by Homeland Security, after they
accused him of potentially giving terrorists key information about U.S.
"critical infrastructure" when filming Exxon’s Baton
Rouge refinery (clear photos of which were publicly available on Google
Maps), sub-section 27 of section 950v. should send chills down the spine
of all investigative journalists and even news-gatherers. It defines
collecting information clandestinely which is then used against the
interests of the U.S. government as terrorism.

- The bill allows hearsay evidence
(obtained via phony confessions after torture) to be considered by the
military tribunal and bars the suspect from even having knowledge of
the charges against him - making a case for defense impossible. This
is guaranteed to produce 100% conviction rates as you would expect in
the dictatorships of Uzbekistan or Zimbabwe and other torture protagonists
who are in many cases allied with the Bush administration and provide
phony confessions obtained from torture that allow the
U.S. government to scare its people with the threat of imaginary Al-Qaeda
terror cells waiting to kill them.

- All of these provisions apply to
American citizens. Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The compromise
legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens
as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States.
And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by
their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."
Similarly, law
Professor Marty Lederman explains: "this [subsection
(ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if
the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever
criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned,
you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to 'hostilities'
at all."

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